Tax officials raided the Eldridge Hotel for the second time in six months Wednesday night in an effort to collect back taxes from the struggling, historic downtown business.

Rob Phillips, general manager of the Eldridge, 701 Mass., confirmed that tax agents from the Kansas Department of Revenue, escorted by deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, entered the hotel after 9 p.m. and took an estimated $1,200 in cash to partially satisfy back taxes owed by the business.

Later, Phillips said the hotel would be open today and for the foreseeable future. “We’re going to be open for a long … time,” he said.

The raid is the latest sign of financial trouble for the hotel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Department of Revenue officials raided the hotel June 11 when it was learned the business owed $108,982 in unpaid guest tax, sales tax and Kansas withholding tax. At that time, it also owed $188,814 in Douglas County property taxes dating back to 2000.

The struggling hotel’s trouble deepened in September, when Mid-America Bank of Baldwin began foreclosure proceedings after the Eldridge missed a $1.3 million loan payment.

As of September, the hotel also owed approximately $160,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. The building has an appraised value of $1.8 million, according to the Douglas County Appraiser’s Office.

On Wednesday, Phillips confirmed he still owed state, federal and county taxes, but did not immediately know the exact amount.

¢ Eldridge owners owe $1.3 million in bank debt (09-23-03)¢ Eldridge financial crisis deepens (09-19-03)¢ Tax officials raid Eldridge Hotel (06-13-03)

He was critical of the state’s decision to confiscate the business’ cash Wednesday night. Phillips said the hotel had been current on all state and federal taxes since February, paying about $100,000.

“If you are paying your taxes and not going any further behind, isn’t there a reason to let you continue working on it instead of doing something that could jeopardize the future of a business?” Phillips said. “Why jeopardize a business that is paying taxes when the economy is so bad and the state is hurting so bad for money?”

Attempts to reach officials with the Kansas Department of Revenue late Wednesday night were unsuccessful.

Phillips said the latest raid hadn’t caused him to consider selling or closing the 48-room hotel, which employs about 80 people. He said he was in negotiations with the Baldwin bank to halt the foreclosure proceeding and said he thought negotiations to create payment plans to pay off his tax debt were going well.

Now, he’s not so sure.

“I can tell you now that the state hasn’t negotiated in good faith as far as I’m concerned,” Phillips said.